In one improved form of vacuum cleaner nozzle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,205 of David G. Koland, which patent is owned by the assignee hereof, a lift device is provided for adjustably raising the front portion of the nozzle, such as for use with different pile height carpets. The lift device includes a U-shaped front wheel assembly, including a support having a rear bight pivotally mounted to the nozzle housing and a pair of forwardly extending legs with wheels rotatably carried on the distal end portions of the legs. The adjuster includes a lifter slidably embracing a leg of the support forwardly of the bight and mounted to a rear portion of the housing adjacent the bight. A cam follower is movable with the lifter and a cam is movably carried by the housing for camming engagement with the cam follower. A foot pedal disposed to be engaged by the user's foot is provided for selectively moving the cam against the cam follower for correspondingly swinging the support about the axis of the bight to selectively raise and lower the front wheels on the U-shaped support to thereby adjust the angular disposition of the nozzle housing relative to the subjacent floor. The present invention utilizes a front wheel adjuster of this type and the Koland U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,205 is incorporated by reference herein as illustrating such structure.
Another vacuum cleaner nozzle adjuster of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,495 of Warren H. Fish et al., which patent is also owned by the assignee hereof. The fish et al. patent structure differs from that of the Koland patent in providing a thumbwheel which is manually accessible through the top wall of the nozzle.
While each of the nozzle lift devices of the above described vacuum cleaner nozzles provides facilitated adjustment of the nozzle disposition, it has been found, in some instances, the user encounters some trouble in reading the setting of the device indicated by suitable indicia carried on the ratchet wheel or thumbwheel.